Nick Kyrgios says there was a racist slander behind his burning exchange with the crowd after Andy Murray lost in the semifinals of the Stuttgart Open.
Murray will play his first grass-court singles final after winning Wimbledon in 2016, beating Kyrgios in straight sets.
The three-time British Grand Slam winner showed signs of his old form as he defeated Kyrgios 7-6 (5), 6-2, retaining his serve throughout the match.
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However, Marr’s victory was somewhat overshadowed by the torture with Kyrgios, the Aussie star took to Instagram after the match to express his frustration.
“When will it stop? Dealing with racial slurs from the mob?” He wrote.
“I understand that my behavior is not always the best – but small comments like ‘you little black sheep’, ‘shut up and play’ are not acceptable.
“When I take revenge on the people, I can be punished. It’s become noisy.”
Kyrgios was apparently frustrated with the crowd on numerous occasions during the two-set, first scoring a point and then a game for non-sporting behavior in the second set, before breaking his racket after a fire with the crowd members.
The 27-year-old was called to the tournament supervisor before Murray finally stopped competing in a blaze.
“You expect something to happen against him, so I’m not surprised when they do,” Murray said after the match.
“Losing him was a very frustrating set and he broke a racket. He was behind the umpire and something in the crowd seemed to be happening.
“But I didn’t hear anything after the first set.”
Murray continued his strong form ahead of Wimbledon after stunning Stefanos Sitsipas in the quarter-finals on Friday, his first win in six years against a top five opponent.
This is the second final of 2022 for Marr, who lost the hard-court Sydney Tennis Classic to Aslan Karatsev in January and reached two finals in the same season for the first time since 2017.
Murray, who has struggled to get back to his best after hip surgery, last won a tour singles title at the European Open in Belgium in 2019 and recorded 46-23 in the final.
In Sunday’s final, Marr will face second-seeded Italian Matteo Beretini, who lost 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5) to Oscar Ott in a hard-fought match without a break. Beretini saved set points in the first set tiebreak and needed three match points to win.
Murray and Beretini have each won one of the two meetings of their careers, with Beretini winning their only grass-court match at Queens Club last year.
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